Newsroom Readiness

How are your “workforce-readiness skills?” Tools required in newsrooms are more numerous than ever. Many utilities are Internet based and there are computers purportedly to make your work friendlier.

Everyone needs fundamental understanding of computers to get the most out of new utilities. There is a skill level for all. Few new technologies require advanced command. It is getting easier.

The Knight Digital Media Center, partnered with UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and the USC Annenberg School for Communication, presents a tutorial on the transformation to digital journalism. It’s an excellent description of what KDMC calls “ a bewildering array” of choices a journalist has to make.

America Online devotes a site to digital lifestyle so evading the array of choices is impossible. The audience is there and journalists must get there for survival. Understanding the peoples’ use of technology guides us to how we should utilize new tools.

Days of hoarding knowledge and demanding huge fees to share are over. A Google search turns up numerous resources for required knowledge. How Stuff Works narrows the hunt for essential proficiency.

It is a new world. Far too many are left behind for lack of basic abilities and fear it is all so overwhelming. I hope Broadcast Newsroom Computing offered something to allay the cold sweat and guide to resources.

Tomorrow BNC’s Friday’s Memo – do we really need a totally new revenue model for media?